milgram-situational variables

• procedure of milgram

  • sample of 40 male volunteers
  • initial study being conducted at yale uni in a lab
  •  single blind,as the participant was unaware of the real aim and was told it was testing how punishment affects learning.
  • In each trial there was a confederate in same room who played the role of an experiemnter, wearing a lab coat and giving instructions to participant
  • teacher and learner roles, confederate was always learner
  • test ability to learn word pairs, instructed to administer a shock for every wrong answer- increased in severity from 15 volts all the way to 450
• • 100 percent went to 300 volts
  • 5 refused to go beyond this point
  • 26 out of 40 went all the way to 450 - potentially lethal
  • despite predictions of 1 in 1000 would go all the way 65% did
• Conclusions 

  Ordinary people are extremely obedient to authority, even when asked to behave in an inhumane manner. It is not evil people who commit atrocities but ordinary people obeying authorities. 
• variations - Location 

  • Several participants remarked that the location gave them confident in the integrity of the researchers 
  • Yale uni changed to run down offices 48%- caused levels to slightly drop
• UNiform 

  • Lab coat swapped for office clothes 20% obedience
  • Bushman carried out an experiment where a female researchers asked member of public to give change to a man for an expired parking meter.
  • She was dressed as either a police officer beggar or businesswoman-72% obeyed in police uniform and this percentage dropped by of 20% when she was dressed in the other outfits.
  • People stated that they obyeyed because  she appeared to have authority
• Proximity

  • Teacher in same room as a learner 40% able to directly experience the learners anguish 
  • Teacher presses hand of learner to a shock plate 30%
  • Experimenter gives order over the phone 21% vast majority now defied the experimenter-less pressure to obey
  • Social support- Two other teachers refusing 10% social support